Meaning and Principles of al-Ta’wīl in al-Ghazālī’s Thought

Abstract

Al-Ghazālī is, undoubtedly, a leading figure, in this paper, his approach of reading religious text which is a salient feature will be discussed. Proper reading leads to correct understanding of text. For al-Ghazālī, a text can have many categories with levels of meanings present in it. There are esoteric and exoteric aspects which are equally important as they complement each other and help in uncovering in-depth meaning. Al-Ta’wīl is the term used for interpretation of inward aspect. In this article gradation of text in outer and inner levels and the way to discern the hidden meanings has been discussed. Al-Ghazālī being a famous jurist, philosopher, theologian and a mystic has brought all these shades in al-Ta’wīl. Sufi element is the most dominant, it is like an umbrella under which semantics, logic, reason and theology are covered. This has given a unique status to his interpretation in Muslim scholarship.